This is something that has bothered me for a while, but after reading the recent 'Rants & Raves" I felt moved to write about. Now I would like everyone who reads this to respond whether it be here, on Jimmy's board, through email or wherever. I seriously would love to hear people's logic on this, be it workers, fans, whoever.
What in YOUR OPINION makes a good wrestler? It's really hard to determine what people are looking for that makes a "good wrestler". Because the guys who are the most over and draw the most money are very rarely great "wrestlers" (at least by definition) however they are great "workers" (which is a whole different ballgame) It seems the "smart fans" go for the more technical type wrestlers (i.e. Benoit, Low Ki, Guerrero, etc.) while guys like Hogan and Goldberg have drawn more money but are looked down upon by the "smarks" for their lack of technical skills. Now, I'm not exactly talking about the ECW crowd that Burcham was refferring to, there a whole different breed of "fans" altogether. I'm talking about the people who criticize the "workrate" of the old school guys but jerk off to ROH tapes of Low-Ki and CM Punk.
First off, the term "workrate" was created by sheet writers and internet marks and didn't previously exist in the business. Back in the day, promoters didn't give a shit about who was the most technically sound, it was all about who put asses in the seats, and realistically the guys who put the most asses in the seats wasn't always the most 'gifted atheletes. Take Jerry Lawler for example, by the smart marks way of thinking, he is a piss poor WRESTLER, but by the numbers of how many years he stayed on top in Memphis, how many weeks he sold out the Mid South Coliseum(he outdrew freakin Elvis) and the ratings drawn for Memphis tv, he is one of the greatest WORKERS of all time. Kamala, Bruiser Brody, Andre the Giant, JYD, The Road Warriors and countless others sold out buildings all over the country for years and they never worked any one hour ironman matches, had little to no "technical" skills but made the business millions of dollars, but these smarks shit on there legacys because they can't match workrate with Bryan Danielson or AJ Styles!?!?! I think that's a crock of shit.
However on the flipside, for all these old people who bitch and moan about how they need to go back to the old days and how it's a shame wrestling is all about "entertainment"now. I hate to tell you but it's always been about ENTERTAINMENT. Maybe they have gotten out of hand with some of the stupid shit they try to pass off as entertainment but the fact remains, all the outragous characters who ever drew huge houses despite there lack of pure "wrestling" skills prove the business has ALWAYS been more about entertainment than wrestling skills (you old timers telling me midget matches didn't expose the business years before Vince did) and that's fine, if you want to watch 'WRESTLING', watch amatuer wrestling.
In case my point isn't clear, I think there is a need for all the different types of wrestling to be able to have something to suit everybody. At every show, there is someone in the crowd that came to laugh, someone who came to see a technical match, someone who came to see blood, and someone who came to see there's cousin's boyfriend who just got trained by a guy he works with at the local grocery story. So you need something for everyone. The thing that pisses me off is when people say "So and So sucks cause he only does four moves", or "That guy can't work" even though he's one of the most over guys in the promotion. What is your basis for these statements? So all this makes me wonder judging by all the crap you read on the internet bashing this wrestler and that wrestler. What the hell do you want?? What are you looking for that makes a good wrestler? Is it the number of moves he can do? Is it the fancy tights he wears? Is it the music he comes out to? What is it?
Please give me some feedback, either on the boards or at my email address genejackson@charter.net
I will discuss what I hear as well as who I think the top 5 workers of all time are.
Untill then,
GENE
